NGE: Over a cup of Earl Grey
by QuadEratDemonstandum
Summary: As Shinji Ikari grew up he didn't have any friends, that is until his school does a cross continental pen pal program. James Fosdyke is an Englishman and his influence brings something unexpected out of Ikari, confidence. S/A or S/R Haven't decided. AU.
1. Chapter 1

I Don't own Gainax or NGE so don't sue me because I am innocent and poor.

In the seclusion of the room in his uncles house, Shinji cried.  
He cried and he cried and he cried over what had happened. His life had become a joyless and empty job of acting out the motions, day in and day out. Even after two years he felt the pain as keenly as if he had been left their just the day before.  
He looked at the piece of paper on his desk through streaming eyes.

Dear parents and guardians Each student at Shiori elementary has been assigned a new international penpal as a way to get to learn about other cultures, a variety of countries have agreed that this is a step towards nations growing together in our time of crisis.  
Your new penpal is from: The Reunified Nation of Great Britain Your penpals name is: James Fosdyke Please log onto .com to talk to your new friend.  
Thankyou for participating Your Principal

Shinji looked at the paper for a few seconds.  
the thoughts that occupy his head are dark, he's seven years old, he should be... having fun.  
the bully's were the worst, young and foolish, he had nievly tried to stand up to them, believing what his teachers said about all bullies being cowards.  
That went wonderfully.

Feeling he had no one to talk to he decided to log on to the site, maybe his pen pal would be his friend.

he logged onto the old computer his cousine had hooked up to his room and logged onto the site.  
*S-Ikari: Hello, I m Shinji... I'm your'e pen pal.  
*J-Fosdyke: Hi Shinji, I m James. How are you?

this was a promising start, he hadn't been rejected out right...

*S-Ikari: I'm not feeling very good, and I have to go to school tomorrow too!  
*J-Fosdyke: That's not good at ALL! What's wrong Shinji?

Shinji stopped suddenly, could he tell this person what was wrong? How would he react? Before he could stop himself Shinji started typing.

*S-Ikari: Mommys dead, Daddy left me and I have no friends...  
*J-Fosdyke: ... Well thats a bit worse than having to go to school tomorrow, but I have AWESOME news for you.  
*S-Ikari: What is it?  
*J-Fosdyke: You have a friend now :)  
*J-Fosdyke: So I'll tell you about me and then you can tell me about you, ok?  
*S-Ikari: ok :)

Over the next hour and a half the two seven year olds exchanged life stories. It turned out James was an orphan himself and was being raised by the SAS in England, after hearing Shinji s story he helpfully commented on what he thought of Gendo and used several descriptive words that no seven year old child should know.

And thus begun a friendship that would last a very long time, one friend lending his sensitivity, and the other his confidence... if not for the horrendous destruction James Fosdyke caused, not just personally (which was a not inconsiderable sum on its own), but also through influencing Shinji, he would have been the ideal friend.

2016 AD tokyo 3 all normal lines are out of order due to the state of special emergancy wonderful thought Shinji what use is a phone line if it gets turned off in emergencies, surely that s when you need it. He picked up his Duffle bag and thought of his father, the man who abandoned him all those years ago He sighed looking around the deseted town, he wondered what the emergency was.

Strange. He looked back on his childhood, it was one that he looked at with a skeptical eye while trying to think of the good times,  
he was going to need those memories soon, however few and far between they were. He smiled as he thought of James, without him there would have been a lot less, the exuberant Englishman had urged Shinji to do some of the truly fun things in his life, making him more confedent and more normal.  
Now then back to business he looked around himself looking for any sign of his contact, he smiled a bit when he thought of the photo she had sent him. I l have to thank her for that though I wonder where she is. He looked around thinking Maby I should find a shelter before he stopped.  
He saw a girl on the other side of the street, she had short cut blue hair and deep, piercing red eyes, she was wearing a school uniform that seemed to match her hair colour. Shinji blinked and she was gone.

I must be going nuts Suddenly there was the scream of jet engines and Shinji looked up at the sky to see two hi-tech air craft go sooming overhead,  
the were shortly followed by what could only be described as a monster.  
It was a huge black giant with a large red orb dominating its midsection, its face was a skull mask that sent a chill down his spine, and it was using its claws to tear planes that could go at super sonic speeds out of the sky.  
As he stared at the only movement he made was a small twitch under his eye. 'If I don't move it can't see me oh wait that's dinosaurs.' The monster turned to look directly at him and Shinji took a deep breath. "well fuck." Just in time a blue sports car skidded in frount of him and the door flung open. "Shinji, get in!" He didn t need to be told twice, diving into the seat he closed the door and gappeled with his seat belt. He turned to his rescuer and recognised her as the lady in the photo, though this time she was whereing some sort of uniform rather than a bathing suit.

Being a normal 16 year old boy, he was slightly disapointed by this fact. Captain Katsuragi? he asked whilst gripping the side of the car so that he didn t get hurt by her exuberant driving style.  
"Yep, you must be Shinji Ikari. Before you ask, that was an Angel, and we are going to go see your fathe- oh shit" she stopped mid sentence. "What?" Shinji asked "their about to drop an N2 mine on the Angel." she murmured

"well then I suppose since we re about to die I might as well say, thanks for the picture Captain, it really brightened my day."

Misato skidded the car to a halt and threw herself over Shinji, shielding him with her body, she tensed for a second waiting for the explosion that didn't seem to be coming she opened an eye.

"I guess it was a false-" she was interrupted by the truly earth shaking explosion that happened just after the expected moment.

-KABOOMBOOM-

When the sound had stopped and the light that had left a huge hole in the sight of her eyes had cleared, Misato noticed what position she had forced Shinji in when she covered him. 'You okay down there Shinji?' she asked him impishly, from under her breasts and in a state that could only be described as marshmallow heaven there was a muffled affirmative as his hand shot to the sky with a thumbs up.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclamer: I own none of these carecters or NGE itself, I promise I'm making no money from this I'm just having fun.

-Inside NERV HQ - Just after the N2 Explosion-

"The smoke is clearing, we should see its carcass soon..." the General said with a satisfied smile on his face.

This confident expression was promptly lost when he saw the unmistakable form of the Third Angel moving through the smoke with only minor damage.

"WHAT!" Another General screamed "That was our most powerful weapon and..."

Behind the three highest ranking members of the Japanise military, Gendo Ikari tented his fingers so they couldn't see his smirk, he waited a few Seconds before saying in his normal drawl "If your done with your'e little game gentlemen, i think its NERV's turn to have a go..."

The Generals look back at him, trying to think of a way to kill the angel without handing the reigns to 'that self reitious bastard.' They gave up almost simoultaniously and the chief of staff sighed.

"Do what you want Ikari, just make it gone."

-Back in the Car - almost at NERV HQ-

As Misato was talking to someone called "Ritz" on the phone Shinji thought about his father, and what he was going to say to him. 'I guess I need to know what I'm here for first, all I know is, even if he's asking me here for a good reason, I'm probably gonna try and punch him.'

The car slowed as it reached the enterance and they jumped out.

"Ok I just gotta get you to Dr. Akagi and then we'll be back in Business..." she looked up "Ok if I go the right way we should be down there in five minuets..."

-32 minuets later-

"I told you we were lost." Shinji sighed before almost walking into Misato as she stopped. She turned around "What was that Shinji?" her face was completely calm but she was staring directly into his eyes. "Um... nothing Misato" he swallowed loudly.  
"Because it sounded like you didn't have a healthy posative attitude to my sense of direction..." a brittle smile had apeared on her face. It was not entirely pleasent.  
"Nothing of the sort captain..." he squeeked "Thats good because I have a thing about people critsising me..." she turned back and Shinji started to breathe again.

"Ok this is the right corridor, welcome to NERV." she picked up a flier from a container in the wall and handed it to him. Suddenly the speakers on the wall suddnely blared to life.

"CAPTAIN MISATO KATSURAGI, PLEASE REPORT TO DR. RITSUKO AKAGI IMIDIATLY YOU ARE LATE. I REPEAT..."

Shinji didn't hear the announcement repeat itself because Misato grabed his arm and sprinted down the corridor taking sevaral turns, all the time muttering "crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap..." before stopping and almost colapsing from exertion and hitting the open button on the side of the door.

"You're late Misato. Did you get lost again?"  
"It's hard not to when you're holding the map upside down..." Shinji replied for her, earning a grin from Akagi and a venomous stare from Misato.

"So is this the boy we've been waiting for?" she asked, thankfully distracting Misato from her current activity. "Yep, this is the third child, Shinji Ikari."  
"Ok Shinji we have to go into this room, before you enter I should warn you, you might be surprised by whats in here."

They stepped through the door and walked down the corridor leading to a large mechanical door at the end, when they stepped through that door Shinji noticed the room was pitch black.

"Um Dr. Akagi, is it supposed to be this dark in here?" Shinji asked hesitantly. In the darkness, the doctor smiled. Akagi theatrically claped her hands twice and the lights blared into life.

"Show off..." Misato grumbled before thinking 'I never get to do stuff like that...'

Shinji looked at the center of the huge room and stopped in his tracks.  
Looking to doctor Akagi he didn't know what to say. He settled for stating the obvious.

"Theres a big purple Mecha in the center of the room" he said,letting no emotion into his voice.  
"Well done Shinji." Akagi said with a bright smile on her face. "This is Unit 01, the second Multi-purpose Huminoid fighting Evangelion." "If this is here there are two reasons I would have been summoned." he said in the same impasive voice.  
"Go on." Misato said with interst, wondering how intellegent his guesses would be.  
"The first one is that you have a plan to use that monstrosity to kill the angel thing walking towards us right now and you need me to look at the plan to see if theres something wrong thats to obvious for your geniuses to see.  
Ritsuko nodded slightly "Thats one possible theory, though we could have got any teenager to do that for us."  
Shinji inclined his head in assent, though his face had a slightly glazed look on it.  
"The other possibility is that I'm the only one that can pilot it and that your going to force me to go out there with no training with the small hope that I might be able to cause some damage."

Both Misato and Ritsuko blinked simulateneously. "How the fuck did you know?" Misato blurted, this earned her a smack on the back of the head from Akagi. "language captain."  
"That is exactly why your here Pilot Ikari." the voice was male and had a harsh element to in, even though it spoke of intellegence and ruthlessness. Gendo Ikari had a voice you didn't want to hear coming out of a dark alley way. "ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE!" Shinji screamed at him, spittle flicking out of his mouth.  
"I have yearly psyciatric evaluations, they say I'm sadistic but not insane" He deadpanned

"I'm not piloting you're giant robot! I'l get myself killed and I still have alot of stuff I've yet to do!" Shinji stared incredulously at his father.

A frown apeared on Gendo Ikari's for head, he turned to Akagi "This pilot is useless, reset the entry plug for Rei." The doctor frowned.  
"Are you sure commander, in her current state..."  
"She is still alive is she not?" Ritsuko nodded and started shouting at the technitions.

A girl was wheeled out, she apeared to be about the same age as Shinji, though she was covered in bandages and had a medical eyepatch over her right eye. It took Shinji a moment to recognise the fact that this was the girl he had seen while waiting for Misato.

Shinji was almost ready to kill his father, the Girl was obviously hurt and in no condition to get in the machine.

Suddenly there was a crash and debris started falling. Not even thinking about it Shinji ran forward and pulled the girl of the gurney. A moment later a large piece of the ceiling fell and crushed it.

The girl, rei, Began to scream in pain at the sudden movement and Shinji fell to his knees.

He looked up to where his father was, the man hadn't moved from his former position and was looking at him coldly.

"I'l do it you cold bastard, but I reserve the right to punch you in the face if I survive." Shinji said this calmly and without emotion.

"Terms accepted boy." Gendo looked at Akagi saying "I'll leave the rest to you."and left.  
"I won't let anything happen to you." Shinji looked at her touching her upper arm softly.

-A few minuets later-  
The cockpit was very small, this fact had become aparent to Shinji as he had prepared to enter it, he wasn't claustrophobic but he felt a little...  
restricted. His uneasyness only increaced as an orange liquid began pouring into the plug.

"Um do you try and drown all your pilots in Orange Tango?" Shinji asked the Misato over the radio. "You're a man right? Suck it up!" she grinned "We're not all blessed with as much testosterone as you Misato." he deadpanned.  
"You're just jealous I can scare fully grown bears away."  
"Don't worry Shinji the liquid is LCL, its oxygenised and you can breath in it."  
As he breathed in the liquid he discovered the doctor was right, he could breathe through the tangy substance.

The activation went on, suddenly everything went weird, he felt as if he had conected to something huge and that he was 50 ft tall. Though he was still in his body he felt like a the EVA was just an extension of him.

"Success!" said Lt. Maya Ibuki, Ritsuko's assistant "Evangelion had come online, sync ratio at... 41.3%." Maya said this last part with some surprise.  
"I'm Impressed, for a first try that is an amazing ratio." Ritsuko said with a smile.

"Ok Shinji, I need you to come back in one piece, the only weapon at your disposal at the moment is the progressive knife, however your EVA is fully armoured and you should have access to you're AT feild."  
"AT field?" Shinji asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"It's kind of a mixture between a physical barriar and an offensive weapon, you control it with your mind.  
"understood"

Misato smiled encouragingly.  
"Good luck Shinji, LAUNCH!"

The EVA Shot up coming out of the base and saw the Angel. It had been damaged quite badly by the N2 mine, though it still looked fairly dangerous.

"Ok Shinji, just think walk!" Misato shouted to him.  
He nodded "Hai." before making his Eva move forward slowly.  
He though about that AT feild thing that Ritsuko had talked about, and decided he'd better try and put it up.  
"AT feild diployed captain" Maya declared.  
Shinji willed the Eva to take two steps forward and thought what James had always said about fighting. 'What was that phrase he always used... ah yes Carpe Jugulum, go for the throat.'  
Shinji Charged at the Angel slamming into an invisible barriar as he got close to it. "Crap Misato! Why didn't you tell me it would have its own AT feild!" he bellowed.  
"Woops..." She muttered "Ok Shinji listen up, use your AT field to pierce it's AT field."  
"Ok..." he murmmered He used his AT feild as instructed but as he did both AT feilds shattered,  
he tried to react but the Angel was faster, claws slid out of its hands and it slashed at his arm forcefully.  
Shinji screamed loudly as it felt like his arm was being torn into, he gritted his teeth through the pain.  
"Don't worry Shinji, its just sympathetic pain, you wont actualy be hurt..."  
Shinji growled almost animalisticaly before slamming into the Huminoid Angel, grabbing it by the throat.  
As they hit the ground the purple EVA began pounding at the red orb in the center of the angel. There was a cracking sound as the gem like object began to fracture.  
Sudenly the Angel roared in pain and exploaded blowing Unit 01 back.

"Life signs from Unit 01!" shouted Misato, her face a sea of anxiousness.  
It's faint but its there lt. Aoba said.  
"Send out a recovery team." she said, a releived look on her face.

Authors note: thankyou any readers I have, you're reviews on chapter one were very helpfull, This chapter and the last one were pre-read by Byrnbot 08, though he doesn't have an acount on this sight, he is a good friend of mine. As always, Reviews = love. thank you all :) -QED

Omake: Memetastic!

"That is exactly why your here Pilot Ikari." the voice was male and had a harsh element to in, even though it spoke of intellegence and ruthlessness. Gendo Ikari had a voice you didn't want to hear coming out of a dark alley way.  
Suddenly the speakers balred to life, a male voice shouted "IT'S GENDO!"  
and music started blaring out it was powerful and heavy on the guitar.  
Gendo took out a communicator and started shouting "AOBA! I told you I don't want any god damned THEME MUSIC!"

Shinji stared at his father shouting down the radio at the poor Leutenant before falling over very slowly without crumpling at all,  
he just went from standing up straight to lieing down on his back.

"Looks like he just got Gendowned." Akagi said impassively. 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Big thanks to CB93 for contributing to my sum of knoledge and giving me some great ideas. If you ever stop being a nutcase, I will be forced to maim you.

OK new chapter! this one doesn't have any EVA stuff but i think you'll enjoy some of the changes

Disclaimer: Me no own NGE or charecters, YOU GO AWAY NOW!

Please review as reviews = Love and i need love! or is that food... I'm hungery -,-

-Gendo Ikari's office - NERV-

"Check." Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki murmmered pressing down the button on top of the clock. He looked at his commander and old... if not friend then aquantence.  
"You're distracted, its to early in the game for you to start making mistakes."

"She didn't awaken Kozo." Gendo moved his piece fluidly removing the knight from the board.

"Your son showed more skill than we anticipated, she will awaken when she needs to." Fuyutsuki frowned before moving a pawn from its starting position, giving his bishop more room to move.

"I was contacted by the old men yesterday." Gendo made an incouos seeming move, looking at his opponent calmly.

"and..." Fuyutsuki taking Gendo's bishop with his own.

"The scrolls are changing, on their own." Ikari castled his king.

"You can't possibly mean what I think you mean..." Shock was evedent in his voice, this was unprecidented. He moved his own castle, threatening Ikari's queen.

"I mean what I said Kozo, the outcome is becoming uncertain." Gendo moved his queen down the carefully prepared corridoor that he had constructed.

"Checkmate." Fuyutsuki said resignedly.

"If the scenario is changing then I will adapt to it as always." Gendo nodded. "Now if you will excuse me I have to go." He stood, the same look on his face that he always had.

"Are you still with me proffesor?"

"I am, though I request that I be informed of all changes to the plan that you make." The Sub-Commander looked Gendo in the eyes, trying to show him his strength.

Gendo smiled, it was not a pleasant sight. "Request denied."

-NERV Hospital-

'Another unfamiar celing' Shinji looked at the hospital roof thinking of what had happened in the last day.

'So I was called to Tokyo-3 by my Father who abandoned me when I was five, and with the note there was a picture of a hot chick attatched to it, so I get to the city and a giant monster named after a caanite deity shows up and starts destroying the city, then as the hot chick turns up and I get in her car, we get a nuclear bomb dropped on where we were, we didn't die and there happened to be no radiation so we went on over to a place called NERV, then it turned out my dadwanted me to pilot a giant robot without any prior training or experiance and fightthe giant monster, then he threatened to put a girl who was seriously hurt into the robot if I didn't comply, this girl I had previously seen on the street with no bandageswhatsoever before she disapeared when I blinked, I then got into the robot, fought off the monster while destroying half the city in the process, and was knocked out before waking up in the hospital...'

When i think of it like that it does seem a little unlikely.

At this moment Ritsuko entered the room, and smiled at him slightly.

"Ok Shinji you're up, well done for killing the Angel."

"The commander wants to talk to you before you're assigned new quaters. Before we go... you should probably get dressed."

Shinji looked down at himself finaly realising he was naked, he began blushing furiously and looked up.

"Um... could you turn around please Dr. Akagi?"

Akagi smiled again, turning her back to him.

When he was dressed they started on their way, Shinju thought about the girl that his father had almost put in the entry plug, what was her name... Kei? no... Rei that was it.

"Dr. Akagi can we go and see that girl who was hurt, I think her name was Rei?" Shinji looked at Akagi hopefully.

"Ok, but only for five minuets, the commander is waiting."

Rei was hurt, that much was obvious. Out of that skintight suit she was wearing in the EVA cages Shinji could see severe bruising on her arms they were easy to spot on her pale skin. Her head was wraped in bandages and she still had the medical eyepatch over her eye.

Shinji walked to her side and looked at her silently for a minuet. "I hope you get better Rei, I'm sorry my father used you."Shinji turned with doctor Akagi and walked out of the room.

"Follow me Shinji, the Commander and Misato are waiting."

-A few minuets later-

THWACK

The commander turned his head back to Shinji, exercising his jaw, behind his glasses his eyes were emotionless.  
"Have you got that out of your system Pilot Ikari?" Shinji nodded, he had a satisfied smile on his face.  
"Good, then I'm going to leave the rest to Captain Katsuragi." As he turned to walk out Akagi frowned suddenly.  
"Commander... did you just come here to let Shinji hit you?" her voice was concerned. Gendo smiled slightly, 'I still have control of her.'  
"I kept my side of the bargin for the boy's piloting earlier today.  
Nothing more." and left.

"O...k lets go see Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki!" Misato's voice, though cheery had a high strung edge to it, as if she was trying very hard not to scream.

When they got to the Sub-Commanders office Fuyutsuki was sitting at his desk drinking a cup of tea, there were two empty cups in frount of him, it was obvious he was expecting them.

"Have a seat Pilot Ikari, you too Captain." he looked at Shinji and smiled gently.

"I realise that todays events may have taken you a bit by surprise Shinji and I thought that after your performance against the Angel, we should have a little talk. Firstly I have papers to do with your accomadation here, you will be living on your own I'm afraid, an- yes Captain?" Misato had put her hand up, inturupting the Sub-Commander mid sentence.

"Sir, with all due respect, it's not right that Shinji, a minor, should live on his own, I have a free room at my apartment, I wouldn't mind taking him in." She looked at Shinji and gave him a big smile.  
Shinji looked a little shocked, though pleasantly so.

"Would that suit you, pilot Ikari?" the Fuyutsuki asked, he knew by the look on Shinji's face that he didn't mind, but he felt it would be good to ask him.

"That would be perfect for me Sub-Commander, I don't want to have to live alone." he smiled at Misato, looking thankful.

"Ok... now onto your pay, as a minor, half of it will be put in..." they began on the paper work, taking the next hour to set Shinji up in Tokyo-3.

-One hour later-

"Ok Shinji, that just about covers it, before you go I have some good news,  
we have requested that the second and fourth childeran could be transfered here to help fight the Angels, as they seem concentrated on attacking Tokyo-3, they will be on their way with their Evangelions ASAP." Fuyutsuki smiled suddenly "I believe you are aquanted with the fourth child."

Shinji frowned slightly, concentrating. "Who is it?"

"Captain James Fosdyke, from England."

-In Misato's car later-

Shinji's mind was awash with thoughts, he was excited that James was coming to Japan, as this would be the first time they would meet in person, and life was looking up for him.

"Are we going strait home Misato?" Shinji asked suddenly, thinking of what the appartment would be like."

"No, first we're gonna stop off at the grocery store, then... I'm taking you to a special place." Misato smiled misteriously.

"Ok, why do we need to go to the grocery store Misato? Don't you have food at home?"

"Oh we've got food, but I have a new roomie! That means a small party is in order." Misato was grinning hugely.

"... Will there be beer?"

-The lookout over Tokyo-3 25 minuets later-

"Ok here we are." Misato said looking at her watch. "This is the city you saved Shinji, Thanks to you, all these people are alive."

Shinji looked at the city, he felt proud of himself. He frowned a bit.  
"Misato why does the city look run down? I thought this was the 'Glorious third capital.' Where is all the buitiful archetecture i heard about?"

Misato kept looking at her watch.

"You'll see in, three, two, one..." Suddenly there was a loud noise, like a thousand motors coming to life and the city began to change in front of them.

Parts of the ground of Tokyo-3 began to rise, becoming beautiful spires with shining sides. It was a beautiful sight and the city stood before them, transformed into something monumental.

"Tokyo-3 is a true fortress city, when the Angel attacked the buildings sunk into the floor, defending themselves... what do you think?" Misato watched him intently.

"I think... I think I just found a reason to fight." 


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hi all, I know it took me a while and I'm sorry, no excuses, i'll  
just do better next time :P

So new chapter, fun stuff and all that, R&R. Thanks again to Byrnbot08  
and xp194 for pe-reading. 

Misato's house "Okay! we're home!" Misato shouted gleefully bumbled into the apartment,  
she turned to find Shinji standing completely still staring at the state of the flat.

"Whats wrong Shinji-kun?" Misato asked, her brows furrowing over her head.

"What fresh hell have I been planted in?" Shinji managed to stutter, staring unblinkingly at the table covered in beer cans and the empty pakaging of instant food.

"I resent the implication, and so does Penpen!" She was grinning as she said this, but there was a slight blush on her cheeks betraying her embaressment at the state of her home.

"Penpen?" Shinji looked at her perplexed. "Who's Penpen?"

"WARK!"

The sound of a warm water penguin slaming into a teenage boy at nearly the speed of sound is not often heard in an average apartment complex, but when it does, it is wonderous.

"That's Penpen." Misato deadpanned.

"He's got my FACE!" Shinji bellowed.

"Penpen, get off him, he's our new roomate." Misato managed to keep all enthusiasm out of her voice.

Penpen got off Shinji with only a small "Wark" in protest.

"Ok, put the food and beer in the fridge, I'l be right back." Shinji picked himself up off the floor glareing at Misato good naturedly.

He opened the fridge and saw it filled to the brim with nothing but beer.

"What have I gotten myself into here..." Shinji muttered, before all of his doubts were silenced. Misato walked back in, wearing some more... comfortable clothes. The low cut tanktop was his favourite part.

"M-Misato, would you like me to make dinner?" Shinji stammered slightly as he asked her.

'Still got it.' Misato thought, a smile spreading across her face. "That would be wonderful Shinji-kun, thankyou."

When food was served between them Misato looked up at Shinji an amazed smile on her face.

"Shinji, the only food we had was instant... how the hell did you make it taste so good!"

"It's kinda boring to explain, lets just eat it and pretend I can do magic." He grinned impishly.

"If you say so..." She suddenly looked up at him. "Shinji, I think since we are living together we should be getting to know each other better, so, tell me about yourself."

Shinji looked up at her, his eyes mischevious.

"If I'm gonna tell you about me, I think we should start on the beer."

"I agree completely." Misato grinned back.

-The next morning-

"I can feel my liver Misato-san..." Shinji groaned, pulling himself off the floor and wandering towards the sink.

"Surely you mean you can't feel your liver." Misato winced as she tried to move her head to the left.

"No I CAN feel it, and thats much, much worse." Shinji emptied his stomach into the sink, and felt a little better.

"Touche." Penpen handed her a beer and ploped himself down next to her, opening his own with his beak.

"Thanks Penpen."

"Wark." The bird replied seriously.

"Well your lucky that you don't have any sync test's today, but you do tomorrow." Her face suddenly took an evil look as she continued.

"I have a day off on thursday so we're gonna get you the stuff you'll need... for school." As Misato explained this Shinji's face grew more and more horrified.

"I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL!"

-The next day-

"Ok Shinji, before we begin the sync test we have to give you a preliminary exam that everyone gets before joining NERV, now it will be uncomfortable but the more cooprative you are, the faster this will go." Ritsuko was smiling reasuringly but it didn't remove Shinji's disquiet.

"Now then, please remove your clothes and sit on the bed."

"WHAT!" A paniced look spread across Shinji's face and he took a step back.

"I'm a doctor, and this exam will be thorough, now strip."

With a resigned sigh Shinji removed most of his clothes and sat on the bed.

"Boxers too Mr Ikari."

With a final glare at Ritsuko, Shinji removed the last item.

The exam was short but in Shinji's opinion, not short enough.

"Now then Shinji, that wasn't so bad, was it." Ritsuko said while carefully disposing of her rubber gloves.

"I think you may have scarred me for life." Shinji muttered walking towards the door.

Ten minutes later Shinji was handed a piece of clothing like no other.

"This is your plug suit Shinji, it increases the sync ratio between you and your EVA, as well as keeping LCL from becoming a problem." Shinji was carefully examining the garment as Ritsuko explained it's function.

"I guess I'l go change then Dr. Akagi, see you after I'm done." He turned around and began walking purposfuly.

"Shinj-kun, the men's changing room is the other way."

"I knew that."

-Inside the Entry Plug, fifthteen minutes later-

"LCL temperature stable, beginning sync test, nerve connection established,  
sync ratio holding steady at... 53.2%" Maya's voice sounded surprised as she mentioned his percentage.

"Thats almost exactly a 10% increase from the battle with the angel."  
Ritsuko muttered.

"It's a remarkable increase for a couple of days sempai."

"Ok Shinji, just stay there for about half an hour and then you we'll let you out."

"Sounds good, is there anything I can do to pass the time?" Shinji asked his voice already bored.

"You have earbuds built into your plugsuit, we have a large selection of music available on file, you can access it through the touchscreen display on your right wrist." Ritsuko's voice was monotonous, as if she was reading from a script.

"Got any Chopin?" Shinji asked, his face brightened considerably.

"Of course, several waltzes, two piano concertos, each with three movements, all of his Nocturnes and a couple of preludes."

"Bitchin."

-Tokyo 3 Highschool, the next day.

"Class we have a new student joining us today, treat him well and show him kindness. Ok Mr Ikari, please tell the class a few things about yourself."

Shinji smiled in a disconcertingly cheerful way before he introduced himself "Uh... Hello, my name is Shinji Ikari, I just moved to Tokyo Three because my father called for me. I like classical music and play the Cello. I hope I can be friends with at least some of you."

"Ok Shinji, there's a seat free by Rei if you don't mind sitting there."  
The teacher's voice had a droning quality that warned Shinji that the lesson would probably put him to sleep.

"Not a problem, who should I talk to about new stuff or if I need help?"

"The young lady with the pigtails is your class representative, Hikari Horaki, she will be happy to assist you with any inquieries."

"Ok, thankyou." As Shinji passed, he noticed the class rep was in deep conversation with a brownhaired teen wearing round glasses. They were speaking about someone named "Toji" and how his sister had been hurt in the attack, explaining his absence that day.

Though he felt slight guilt over the girl's injuries, he knew he couldn't blame himself.

As the day went on, it became apparent to Shinji that the teacher had an unhealthy obsession with second impact and that it would be for the best if he turned his brain off for a while.

5 minutes into the lesson Shinji recieved a message on his new school computer, the screen name of: TheCorporal.

The message was general and obviously sent to everyone in the class, it read:

* TheCorporal: Are you the the robot pilot?

Shinji thought carefully about how to reply; He'd always been told to only lie when absolutly necessary, because otherwise it will come back to bite you.

Shinji also considered whether the fact he could get beaten up by the guy whose sister got hurt made the situation 'absolutely necessary.' Sighing he realised that if he had to ask, it probably wasn't necessary.

* Ikari: yes

The classroom exploded with noise a kid with glasses shouted:

"The new guy's the pilot!"

Shinji was quickly bombarded with questions about the fight, as everyone in class other than Rei and Hikari got up and rushed to his desk, shouting their inquirys. The teacher was fruitlessly trying to get his students to sit down, but his voice was unheard over the din. Another voice however, was heard.

"EVERYONE WILL BE SEATED RIGHT NOW, OR THE ENTIRE CLASS IS HELD AFTER SCHOOL CLEANING THE FIELD OF LITTER!" Hikari's words boomed around the classroom ominously, as everyone turned to her, horrified.

As all the students sat back down in their seats, grumbling quietly about 'treachery' and 'blatant abuse of power' Shinji gave Hikari a thankful look. Despite what he had learnt from James, Shinji was still shy in front of crowds.

After lunch they had a free period to catch up on work and generally, keep their lives together. Halfway through this calm period the classroom door slammed open and a large teen wearing a tracksuit entered, his very presence projected anger and his face was stony. After he had entered, the young man headed strait towards Hikari and the bespectacled boy, who Shinji had learnt was named Kensuke Aida. From his seat Shinji could hear the conversation.

"Hey Toji." Kensuke greeted the large teen, "How's your sister doing?"

"She has three broken ribs, a punctured lung and a skull fracture, she'll be ok but Nozomi will require physical therapy for months. I swear, if I find out who that pilot is, I will punch him so hard that he won't be able to see his giant toy." Toji's face grimaced as he spoke about his sister, as if the very memory caused him pain.

Shinji stood up slowly, and walked towards Toji, his face was calm but inside his heart was beating at twice the normal rate.

"Um... Hi, I overheard you guys talking and I thought I thought should tell you, I'm the pilot. I'm not going to make any excuses or anything but I will do one thing. If you take me to your sister I will appologise to her personaly and do anything I can to help." Shinji waited silently for Toji's reply.

The punch came from nowhere, it was fast and hard, hitting Shinji square between the eyes, making him fall to the floor in a heap.

He pulled himself up from the floor and brushed himself off, reaching to his face Shinji clicked his nose back into place and looked the other teen in the eyes.

"The offer will stay open." As Shinji said this, Toji let out a snarl of rage and punched him again before turning round and leaving.

"Sorry about that, she's all he has left." Kensuke said helping Shinji up off the floor.

Shinji looked at the other teen, grimacing. "He'll have to let go of the anger soon..."

-NERV HQ-

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP


	5. Interlude

A/N: Okay guys, i'm going to have to appologise for lateness again, but there's more too, Im going to put OacoEG on hiatus for a couple of weeks while I write a story I've been wanting to do for /ages./ All of you will have heared of Nobody dies, and I'm writing a fanfic of that fanfic :).

Nobody Dies Hand to Hand will be quite short, so don't worry, I'll be back soon with my main story.

Before I go here is a little teaser of the chapter that will come when I get back:

Shamshel aproached the city, his anthropod form moving as fast as it could.  
He thought of what he was going to face while fighting his way to his father and he knew that it would not be easy. His older brother had already failed and Shachiel had returned to the all father. Shamshel felt hate building up against the creature that had destroyed Sachiel, his brother, who despite looking the almost human, had been the most animal of the children of ADAM, being barely more than a ravenous beast.

'I suppose I had better anounce myself.' The Angel thought, looking at the looming shape of the city.

LILLIM

THE EARTH, SLOWLY SPINING TO IT'S DESTRUCTION DOES NOT KNOW IT YET.

WE HAVE COME TO LAY WASTE TO YOUR CITYS AND DRAW YOUR PEOPLE FROM THE EARTH.

A MESSANGER OF GOD HAS BEEN SUMMONED BY THE DISGUST THE ALL FATHER FEELS FOR YOU.

YOU HAVE TAKEN OUR FATHER AND HOLD YOUR OWN MOTHER CRUCIFIED BELLOW YOU.

YOUR SPECIES HAS BEEN JUDGED AND YOU WERE FOUND WANTING, MAKE YOUR PEACE FOR YOU HAVE LITTLE TIME LEFT.

I HAVE REMOVED MYSELF FROM MY TASK OF GUARDING EDEN MEARLY TO DESTROY ALL YOU HOLD DEAR.

I AM THE ANGEL OF MORNING AND MY LIGHT SHALL BURN YOUR PITIFUL SKIN.  
TO ASH PREPARE.

The angel said this in its own language and all the Humans heard was a screech across the distance but the meaning of the screech was clear, the angel was telling them it was here.  



End file.
